A history of

HERITAGE

How we got here and why we’ll stay

On average, Sonoma has 262 sunny days annually, the air quality is rated excellent, and it scores exceptionally high on the comfort index. Factor in gentle sea breezes and abundant sweet prairie grasses on rolling coastal hills of Northern California and there really is no better place on this planet to be a cow or a grape.

100 years & Counting

ertainly Father Junipero Serra couldn’t have anticipated his agricultural legacy when, in 1769, he established 21 missions in California. But along with the missions that still dot the state, he also introduced several varieties of fruits, vegetables, and dairy cows, laying the foundation for the future agriculture industry in California. When disaster struck in 1975 with the biggest fire in the history of the town of Petaluma and completely destroyed the Petaluma Cooperative Creamery processing and bottling operations, Gene Benedetti’s decision to start from scratch and found Clover Stornetta Farms was not without precedent.

He understood that this part of California was perfect for cows. As with Father Serra, Gene knew milk country when he saw it. Clover Stornetta Farms, Inc. literally rose from the ashes of that devastating fire when the current owners of Clover Stornetta purchased the wholesale distribution business from Cal Co-op and Stornetta’s Dairy in Sonoma, CA in August of 1977.

Under the Clover Brand, the Petaluma Cooperative Creamery started distributing quality dairy products to stores and residential customers in the Petaluma, CA area in the early 1900′s. As Petaluma and the rest of Sonoma and Marin Counties continued to grow, so did the Co-op. Clover Brand products began showing up in nearly every store and household in the North Bay.

Building on the brand’s heritage, when Clover Stornetta introduced renovations to the processing facility the focus was not only on quality but also on doing things greener. Clover believes that being a sustainable business is the only way to do business. We’ve done just that for three generations. We look forward to the next generations to pick up where we leave off and continue our role as stewards of the land. We recognize that doing so is not only a tradition, it is an obligation.

This is a Family Business

You can only make the kind of choices we make if you own the business. We’ll never sell out. We believe in supporting local businesses, family farms, and making sustainable choices that are good for generations to come, not just the next quarterly profits.

like father, like son.

Gene’s vision: CLO.

1916

The Petaluma Cooperative Creamery began distributing Clover Brand dairy products to stores and residential customers in the Petaluma, CA area. As Petaluma and the rest of Sonoma and Marin Counties continued to grow, so did the Co-op. Clover Brand products began showing up in nearly every store and household in the North Bay.

1929

The Petaluma Cooperative Creamery started to bottle milk under the Clover name the first day’s bottling was 50 quarts.

1933

Cottage Cheese was added to the Clover line of dairy products with a production rate of 150 pounds per day.

1969

Clo the Cow first appeared as the official mascot for Clover Brand products and has graced billboards in Northern-California ever since with her magnificent smile and witty puns.

1974

1975

Disaster hit. The biggest fire the town of Petaluma had ever seen struck the co-op, destroying the processing and bottling operations, and the cooler.

1977

Clover Stornetta Farms, Inc. was born from the ashes of that devastating fire. Following a decision by the Co-op not to rebuild the facility, the current owners of Clover Stornetta purchased the wholesale distribution business from Cal Co-op and Stornettaʼs Dairy in Sonoma, CA in August of 1977.

1984

The company moved and consolidated all of its distribution back to Petaluma.

1986

Gene Benedetti asked his son Dan to succeed him as president.

1991

Clover Stornetta opened its new state-of-the-art milk processing facility at the Petaluma location. The Stornetta Dairy in Sonoma served as Cloverʼs only bottling plant until then. The equipment was antiquated and much of the work was done by hand. With this new fully automated plant with computerized controls, Clover is able to do three times the volume of the old plant with virtually the same manpower.

1994

Monsanto came to Clover touting a newly developed “wonder” drug: rBST–a controversial synthetic growth hormone designed to artificially stimulate milk production in dairy cows. We turned them down flat.

1994

The North Coast Excellence Certified program was born (the most rigorous set of quality standards in the industry) and insists that Cloverʼs family of farms practice sustainable agriculture, humane treatment of their cows, keep small herds on spacious land, and absolute zero use of the synthetic growth hormone, rBST.

1999

Dan Benedetti steered Clover as an early entrant into organics.

2000

In September, Clover Stornetta Farms became the first dairy in the U.S. to be certified by the American Humane Association (AHA) for their animal welfare program, American Humane Certified.

2006

Dan transitioned out of the role of President and became Chairman of the Board. At this time, he like his father, asked his son Marcus to become President.

2015

Herm and Dan Benedetti retire. Marcus assumes Danʼs role of Chairman of the Board, while maintaining his current responsibilities as President and CEO of Clover.

2016

Clover applies to be B-Corp Certified – and passes with an astounding 97 points!

2016

Clover announces the release of a non-GMO milk offering for it’s customers

2017

Clover Stornetta Farms rebrands to embrace the region as “Clover Sonoma” and introduces the Clover Promise of Excellence Program.